


On Mindfulness

by virdant



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Jedi, Jedi Culture & Tradition (Star Wars), Jedi Culture Respected, Jedi Philosophy (Star Wars), Meditation, mindfulness, the sw meditation mantra actually treated as the meditation mantra that it is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:15:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26771284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/virdant/pseuds/virdant
Summary: There is a mantra that they recite as they meditate, to remind themselves of mindfulness. It is a lesson that they learn, over and over, with every recitation.It begins like this:There is no emotion, there is peace
Comments: 5
Kudos: 141
Collections: Jedi-Friendly, The Temple Archives





	On Mindfulness

**Author's Note:**

> for the folks at the jedi appreciation discord, who asked for meditation mantra fic. thank you for welcoming me to salt town! here is meditation mantra fic on ao3 for jedi positivity weekend :)

Come and sit. Right here, next to me. That’s right. Any way that makes you comfortable. Try the lotus position, like this, cross your ankles, that’s right. Relax your hands, you can place them on your knees. Sit up, straight but relaxed, oh, I know, it sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? Pull yourself up, but don’t force your shoulders back. Lift your chin.

Close your eyes.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Slowly. Deeply. Feel your heartbeat slow. Remember how this feels, Padawan.

Now. Deep breath. Seven counts. Hold for three. Exhale: seven counts. Good. Good.

Do you know why we meditate, Padawan? It’s not to numb yourself, not to become cold and unfeeling the way some people think. It’s to center ourselves, to focus on who we are.

Deep breath, Padawan. Good. Center yourself now. Let yourself drift on your thoughts. Don’t control your thoughts, look at them, one by one, as they drift by. Don’t control them, let them take you on their journeys. Don’t control your feelings, examine them, closely, wrapping your hands around the strands that connect your thoughts to your feelings. See where they connect. Understand how they flow into each other.

Let go of that now. You are not ruled by your emotion. It flows through you, you acknowledge it. Now let it go. You have felt it, but you are not drowning in it.

Breathe.

There is no emotion, there is peace. 

Good. Deep breath, Padawan. Don’t stop breathing. Let your breaths like the beat of a drum, keeping you here. 

Do not cling to your thoughts. Let them pass by. You think what you think. Examine them, but do not linger. Every one of them, they are taking you on a journey of understanding. Your emotions, where do they come from? What has brought them to you? You know, don’t you? You can see how your thoughts and experiences have led to your feelings, understand how they flow into each other. Your thoughts drive your emotions, and your emotions drive your thoughts. It is a cycle, and they flow into each other, over and over.

But you know, now, where your emotions come from. You can break the cycles you find yourself trapped in, the cycles of fear, the cycles of anger. You are not driven by them.

Breathe.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

Good. Another deep breath, Padawan. You know what is coming next, don’t you? Let those emotions that you have drowned in go. You know what they are, you know where they are coming from. Do not let yourself be consumed by them. Feel them, sweetly. Let them breathe into your skin. Hold them with tender care.

Let them go, Padawan. You are more than the unending mire of fear. You are more than an unceasing flame of fury. You are more. You are the steadiness of a stone foundation. You are the burbling stream as it sings. You are more.

There is no passion, there is serenity.

They churn, don’t they? The tangled mess of emotions. But you have unsnarled the threads. Lay them out now, your thoughts as they flow into your emotions, your emotions as they ebb into your thoughts. Lay them out, one by one, until your mind is ordered.

What do you feel, Padawan? No, you don’t need to tell me. Just reflect on it. Each one of your emotions, like colored threads, all the spectrum of a rainbow, neatly laid out in order.

There is no chaos, there is harmony.

It’s time to come out now. Slowly. Keep breathing, Padawan. Slowly. Good. Everything you felt, everything you thought. Take a moment to let it sit within you. They were part of you. But you are not ruled by it. And now, as you let them go, know that they are not gone forever. They have passed into the Force, and one day you shall feel these same emotions again. It is an unending cycle.

There is no death, there is the Force.

Breathe for me, Padawan. Inhale: seven counts. Hold: three counts. Exhale: seven counts. Good. Good. 

This is why we meditate, Padawan. This is why we recite the mantra while we meditate. So we may remember all of this. So we may be mindful of our feelings. So that we are never ruled by what we feel, but that we are aware of ourselves.

Open your eyes now. There is work to be done.

**Author's Note:**

> ~~you ever get really tired of some quote of a meditation mantra from a 1970's rpg handbook being treated as "the jedi code?" just me? okay.~~
> 
> talk jedi positive content with me! here are some ways to talk to me:
> 
>   * find me in salt town
>   * Follow me on twitter [@virdant](http://virdant.twitter.com)
>   * [Like & retweet on twitter](https://twitter.com/virdant/status/1311996074744188930)
>   * Comment and kudo below
> 



End file.
